San Francisco flirts with idea of joining Marin Energy Authority

Stymied in their attempt to create their own public power authority, members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors are exploring the possibility of having San Francisco join the Marin Energy Authority.

Staff from San Francisco's Local Agency Formation Commission — which is working with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to create a community choice aggregation program similar to the Marin Energy Authority — contacted the Marin Energy Authority recently. There are currently four San Francisco supervisors on the Local Agency Formation Commission's board.

"I got a call from them about this idea a couple of weeks ago," said Dawn Weisz, the Marin Energy Authority's executive officer.

According to a PG&E spokesman, Jason King, there are 475,000 residential and nonresidential electricity accounts in San Francisco. The Marin Energy Authority currently has about 120,000 accounts, having expanded its customer base to include all 11 of Marin's municipalities and the city of Richmond.

Weisz said, "It's important to say that this is simply exploratory at this point. We do not have any intention to expand very quickly."

Weisz responded to questions last week from Chicago where she was attending the Second Annual National Community Choice Aggregation Summit. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel served as keynote speaker at the summit.

So-called "community choice aggregation" legislation adopted in California in 2002 made it possible for cities and counties to buy electricity directly from suppliers and sell it to their residents. Initially viewed as a means of keeping electrical rates affordable during the chaos of energy deregulation, community choice has since been adopted as a method of boosting use of renewable energy sources to combat global warming.

Fifty-three percent of the electricity that is supplied to a bulk of the Marin Energy Authority's customers comes from renewable sources; just under 2 percent of the authority's accounts pay a little more to ensure that 100 percent of the electricity they receive comes from renewable sources. By comparison, the authority's investor-owned competitor, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., gets 19 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

Weisz said that during a retreat in September, the authority's board established a policy and procedures for adding communities that are within 30 miles of Marin and have accounts of 40,000 or less. She said there have been inquiries from Napa County and the cities of San Pablo, Albany and El Cerrito.

But Weisz said the authority's board has not yet established a policy for joining with larger communities, such as San Francisco.

"It's not something we'll be taking up right away," she said, "but possibly early next year."

San Rafael Councilman Damon Connolly, chairman of the authority's board, said, "Generally speaking, we are supportive of expansion at an incremental pace assuming that it makes sense for the agency fiscally, in terms of customer's rates, our budget and achieving our goals of more renewable energy."

Nevertheless, Jeremy Pollock, a legislative aide to San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, said, "The idea is on the table. We're looking at any and all options."

Conor Johnston, a legislative aide to San Francisco Supervisor London Breed, said, "It's definitely an option on the table."

In September 2012, San Francisco's supervisors voted 8-3 to approve CleanPowerSF, a public program that would compete with PG&E as an electricity retailer and give residents the opportunity of boosting their use of power derived from renewable sources. But progress toward implementing CleanPowerSF ground to a halt when San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission declined to set rates for the program.

"Mayor (Ed) Lee appoints all five members of the Utilities Commission's board," said Pollock, the supervisorial aide. Pollock said the mayor opposes Clean PowerSF's launch.

Pollock said if San Francisco were to join the Marin Energy Authority, it would do so in increments over time.

"CleanPowerSF has done some market research to see which parts of the city are most interested and going to those areas first was our plan, then gradually expand it citywide," Pollock said. "It wouldn't be the whole city coming over, overnight."